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To: lizma
Mercury and lead were both used in makeup and it's a wonder how anyone managed to live to be 50, back then.

Belladonna was used to brighten eyes and damned near blinded/killed most who used it too.

20 posted on 04/05/2005 2:41:48 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: nopardons
Women use to put arsenic under their tongues to make their complexion pale and then they would paint on blue veins (Supposedly that's where the term blue-bloods comes from). Boy's urine, bat's blood, and mercury chemical peels were all popular cosmetic endeavors with the wealthy. Lye was used to lighten hair. Later they had 3 foot high hair styles involving birds!

Queen Elizabeth I used a thick lead paste on her face and chest to get that white look (It hid her smallpox scars and the pale look was in) and mercury on her lips and cheeks (vermilion). I've read that her lips partially eaten away because of the chemicals she used on them and that's why she refused to get her portrait painted as she aged. All that and she lived to be 70.

And we're suppose to worry about Chinese food and popcorn!

Belladonna is still used in Ophthalmology today. In a very controlled dose, of coarse, but it's not uncommon to see reactions to it. That's stuff's dangerous.

34 posted on 04/06/2005 12:26:41 AM PDT by lizma
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